More Pep For Chicago Market

Auto Parts, Servicing Company Plans To Open About 40 Stores In Area

In 70 years, Philadelphia-based Pep Boys, an auto parts and service retailer, had never conducted a news conference.

Company officials had heard stories about news media briefings by other firms, but they really weren't sure what they should do.

Rather than make a mistake, they rented a meeting room at a fancy Chicago hotel, ordered soft drinks, coffee, sandwiches, pasta and fruit, lined the room with tables and chairs and set up a large-screen television to show a video about the company.

The only problem for Pep Boys was that most of Chicago's news media didn't show up.

But it should be the last time journalists fail to attend a briefing by the boys from Philadelphia.

The company announced plans Tuesday to open more than 40 stores in the Chicago market; they will employ more than 1,500 people. And unlike so many other "superstore" concepts flooding the landscape, Pep Boys and the jobs won't just be in the suburbs.

Twelve of the stores will be within Chicago's city limits, including neighborhoods such as Pilsen, Douglas Park, Humboldt Park and Morgan Park that have drawn little interest from major chain stores.

And the company said it will fill positions for mechanics and service managers, along with typical sales jobs. And each store's employees are to reflect the neighborhoods in which the stores are located.

On Tuesday, the company's stock closed down 12 cents at $30.88 on the New York Stock Exchange.

In an industry beset with problems, including the auto-repair scandal that tarnished Chicago-based Sears, Roebuck and Co., forcing it to abandon much of its auto-repair business, Pep Boys has managed to avoid difficulties.

"It does no good to compromise your integrity for the sake of sales," said Pep Boys Chairman and chief executive Mitchell Leibovitz, noting that 24 percent of the company's stores are in Cal ifornia, where Sears encountered its biggest problems.

Already grossing more than $1.2 billion annually in sales, Pep Boys plans to use the Chicago-area stores as a springboard to launch the company toward its goal of more than $2 billion in sales by the end of 1996, with earnings of more than $100 million. The company operates nearly 400 stores, in 30 states.

"We are unique in that we try to satisfy all the consumer segments: the do-it-yourselfers, the do-it-for-me and the buy-to-sell segment," said Leibovitz.

Unlike some auto-parts retailers, which don't provide service work, each Pep Boys store has service bays to perform some of the highly technical auto services provided by car dealers.

The three area Pep Boys stores already open, in Cicero, Bedford Park and Hodgkins, are being joined this week by stores in Naperville, Melrose Park and Orland Park.